State Sen. Mike McGuire, whose district includes Marin, received a 94 percent positive rating from the group. (Stuart Lirette/Marin Independent Journal)

Marin’s two legislators in Sacramento have received high grades from a nonprofit focused on youth.

San Francisco-based Common Sense Media’s report card ranking California legislators based on how they voted on 56 bills in 2017 gave Assemblyman Marc Levine, D-Greenbrae, a 97 percent rating and state Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, a 94 percent rating.

Thirty seven California legislators received perfect scores for supporting every bill deemed “for kids” by Common Sense and opposing every bill that the nonprofit believes would harm or is “against kids.”

Levine was denied a perfect score by his vote against Senate Bill 35. The bill, which was approved by the Legislature and adopted into law despite Levine’s no vote, streamlined the approval process for housing projects in cities and counties failing to meet their state-mandated zoning requirements for fostering affordable housing.

“I listened to my local city council members who expressed concerns about a lack of local decision making,” Levine responded in an email. “The League of California Cities had an opposed position due to this concern.”

McGuire also voted no on SB 35. He scored lower than Levine because he also voted no on AB 1665, which was designed to increase broadband access and dedicates $330 million to government agencies to reach a goal of 98 percent of California households accessing broadband by 2022.

McGuire was one of only two members of the state Senate who voted no on AB 1665. The bill was approved by the Assembly on a 68-8 vote.

Regarding SB 35, McGuire said, “The legislation completely removes the public’s role in the approval process of housing, which I believe is a mistake. If you look at city councils in Marin and up and down the California coast they were elected for a reason. This is a heavy-handed approach and I believe a compromise could have been struck.”

As for AB 1665, McGuire said, “Building out a reliable broadband network is a priority for everyone in the North Bay and North Coast. That said, every broadband expert from Marin County in the south to Del Norte in the north had significant concerns about the bill because they think it is a bad deal for our communities.

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“It comes down to the issue of funding,” McGuire said. “The way the funding was broken down did not benefit our communities.”

Shum Preston, Common Sense’s director of national advocacy, said among the 56 bills used to rank the legislators, a few stand out.

“This is becoming standard in developed countries around the world,” Preston said. “It is really crucial to the development of a child that when they’re 4 weeks old they’re not being shuttled off to babysitters and relatives.”

Preston also pointed to Assembly Bill 60, which eliminates burdensome paperwork requirements for child care, allows families to qualify for 12 months at time, and establishes a graduated phaseout for families whose incomes have increased.

And Preston highlighted SB 250, which prohibits school officials from shaming, treating differently or providing a different meal to students with school meal debt.

“That’s just cruelty,” Preston said.

In its report, Common Sense singled out one bill that was defeated, Assembly Bill 165, as one that would have been particularly bad for kids.

The bill would have stripped away digital privacy protections for California’s public school students, teachers, and staff by allowing any person working “for or on the behalf” of a local education agency to search an electronic device or online account without complying with California Electronic Communications Privacy Act rules.

In addition to its policy advocacy, Common Sense Media also helps parents determine which movies, video games, apps, TV shows, websites books and music are appropriate for their children by providing ratings and reviews.